Marcos Torres, who pastors in Western Australia, has created The Road to tell the story of Jesus in a way that appeals to secular young people who don't know anything about religion.
Alright I know I should be able to get through the first 2 paragraphs without having to jump to making a comment but I can’t do it. What pray tell is an emerging generation?
(or emerging secular generation) Then we get to the third paragraph:
You do know Theme and topic are synonyms right?
"Theme
Synonyms subject, topic…"
Ok, I will try to get back to the interview. But right now I see someone who just likes buzz words and thinks that that somehow makes all the difference.
"What pray tell is an emerging generation?"
A generation that is “new”…or most recent.
"You do know Theme and topic are synonyms right?"
He used the word “thematic” which means that “topics” make up a “theme”…but as long as you are cherry-picking I suppose that I can too! 
"Ok, I will try to get back to the interview. But right now I see someone who just likes buzz words and thinks that that somehow makes all the difference."
They probably do matter to a younger generation which clearly you and I don’t belong to. 
Yeah I don’t buy it. If he is talking about millennials they have been around quite a while they aren’t new and you don’t really emerge into a generation. But if he did mean "new generation? why not say new generation, much more clear or say the new generation of millenialls, or the new generation Z etc. In no case are they emerging as a generation or as a secular generation?
It still amounts to synonyms for the same thing. Whether I say topics make up a subject or topics make up a theme I am just using words to convey the same meaning., It is nonsensical to say well my book is better because I deal with topics instead of subjects or vice versa.
While I am here I will mention one more incredible statement (incredible not in a good way).
Really? Let’s see we have had Trump for 4 years and how long have there been Evangelicals and Evangelicalism?. Easily 100 times (first used 1531) that long but they are all redefined now by one President…or worse yet one made up term called Trumpism (at best it is a slang term used by those on the other end of the political spectrum), I don’t recall Clintonism or Obamaism. Maybe some Bushism but that was sort of related to malaprops. Seriously if someone can write a book and not realize and incorporate more history than the last few years into it they are really wasting their reader’s time.
No, I think a bit more highly of Millenials than to think they are impressed by buzz words
Yes, you ARE a hard man to impress, Ron…but we do get to hold on to our opinions. 
Congratulations, Marcos, for being the author of a Bible Study Guide that has probably been overdue for at least 20 years! Your talent and dedication to doing this is commendable and I am sure that it will be well received.
Please don’t pay any attention to those who cherry-pick and naysay…there’s probably more than a little bit of jealousy there.
Of course, you can hold to your opinions. Though I think it is far more important to support your opinions with reason. Then when your opinions differ from someone else both sides can deal with the differences logically.
By the way I looked on Amazon and looked at the book. I got all the way to the table of contents. That would give me a good idea of the chapter titles…those Themes! Nothing there. just a page with some large geometric symbols. Honestly to not give a table of contents or especially a sample chapter in a self published book is just poor business sense. But I guess that is just my jealousy…oh look would not that have been a great place to give a reason for your opinion. See how that works, I do understand why you did not back the claim to jealously with any reason, being that you don’t have any it would be difficult. But that should be a clue to an opinion that is not justified, If there is no reason for the opinion why have it, would not that just become a bias or a prejudice?
I take the denominational branding comes with Sister White package? How do you manage to make the experience bigger than itself where the story becomes their identity when Adventists do not identify themselves without their “lesser light”?
Ron, I have no problem with “constructive” criticism but I do have issues with what could be construed as too much petty harshness. I don’t exactly find much creativity coming out of Adventism in general…so, for that alone, I applaud the author.
Yikes, that’s a bit rough. You forget there’s a human on the other side here?
Emerging secular generations refers to new, up and coming generations.
For example, older secular generations like Gen X or secular Boomers were more likely to be impacted by secular modernism.
Emerging (or new) ones are more likely to impacted by post and meta modernity which doubts science and modern assumptions just as much as it doubts religion.
As far as topic and theme, they can be used interchangeably but also mean different things. A theme covey’s the idea of a continually recurring or unfolding idea (like a story) whereas a topic refers to a static idea explored without a story. This distinction has been used forever in preaching to differentiate between topical sermons and thematic or narrative ones.
Hope that helps.
This new book appears to be an honest attempt to reach the young generation who are searching for a meaningful relationship with the Jesus of history. Pastor Torres deserves commendation for his honest effort to bridge the cultural divide and present materials that are understandable and attractive to new seekers and youth frustrated by old and outdated jargon. Anyone that pioneers this work can expect to be subject to sarcasm and distasteful opinions. We hope that Marcus will see fruits for his labors.
Marcos,
Are Ellen White (SOP), Sabbath as a commandment that New Covenant Christians are required to keep, or Sunday Laws in these study guides?
Thanks for your response.
Thanks for replying, The opening question informed us that the book was for Millennials and post-moderns Neither of which are new generations or emerging.
That is a much better way to express it. Though I doubt topics are any more static than a theme or that a topic certainly in the literary arena exists without a story.
I take it from that comment that you did not have an editor. Because questioning what someone is trying to say is pretty common.
Thanks for the question!
This set doesn’t have a study on EGW for a few reasons. (Btw I do believe in her prophetic gift)
This way, they can get to know some of her thinking without the prophet pressure and can make up their own minds about her when its right for them. This study set is not a conveyor belt of SDA culture.
The Sabbath is explored in the framework of rhythm, relationship and social justice not new or old covenant. Secular folk don’t care about that. That’s stuff churchy ppl trip over.
We do explore the possibility of sabbath being a tension point in the coming age of religio-political tyranny, but we focus more on the seal of God than the mark of the beast, and on being in rhythm with God’s heart than complying with rules as the true underlying issue at the end of time.
I get some church folk will completely hate this approach but it’s not designed for churchy folk so that’s ok. 
Thank you so much!
Although I dont know you I can tell by your messages that you are a beautiful human 
Our generation needs more ppl like you in our corner!
Ron, you are not wrong.
Part of the struggle is that I have to communicate in a language that is moderately familiar to church folk and that means often having to use terms that aren’t 100% academically accurate.
So if I said “New Bible Study Designed for Meta-Modern and Zed to Alpha Generations” it would have almost zero marketing value because the church isnt familiar with those terms. So I have to use terms like Millennials and Post-Moderns (even though post-modernism is past) because those terms have more marketing value than the others.
So technically speaking, emerging generations would more accurately refer to Zeds and alphas currently inhabiting the post to meta-modern transition. But you go down that track and the only people who will click the link are academics.
As far as better ways to express - yeah you are not wrong. I can always do better.
Hope these points help.
yes, not really of much marketing appeal to that and very few know of the Alpha generation being that the oldest of this group is 10 years old and they are completely useless to market to! I would never use such philosophical terms in a book title however as it assumes that the group of people who often don’t even know current civics and even recent history know philosophical terms. But that is up to you. I do have one question however, since I had to look up metamodern. Why if you are trying to reach those of the digital world and internet age would you not put out your book as an E-book? Even better would be an app that allows the owner to type or speaks notes into the app and share their thoughts at least with other app users. Definately more work but likely a far larger impact.
Good question.
The reason why its not an ebook is because the book requires you to write in it/ interact with it and there isnt any real elegant way to make the possible on a kindle ebook.
However, the long term vision is to definitely turn this into an app. Its a very expensive process to do it right though - can easily run up 10g. So hopefully if the print editions do well I can raise the funds to turn it into an interactive app with a slick user interface and animation etc.
Thats definitely the next step!
How do you explain the cross/death of Jesus? Does a sacrifice for sin play a significant role?
Thanks for your response.
So, these things are introduced, but in a softer approach, it seems. Hopefully, those who encounter these topics will explore them outside of the SDA perspective, as well.
You said that you focus more on the seal of God. What do you present in the study guide is the seal of God?